I've had success just putting the apples on top of the soil in the pot. It only takes a tiny amount of ethylene to initiate blooming. Sometimes it's quick and sometimes it's slow.

Thanks for sharing your success! I've got a couple plants just starting so will be trying this down the road, maybe next spring depending on how big my plants are by then.

Does anyone know about how long it takes the fruit to mature from the size shown above? I assume this is the right time to force fruit. Thanks!

I've done it with just a sliver of ripe apple with skin put down in the center with no other care.

I have a pair of 3-year olds which are rapidly outgrowing their space in my small greenhouse. I was going to wait, but reading this, I think I should try forcing them, perhaps a month apart. It will be very impractical to bag the whole plant. I thought about an apple (or piece) in the center and maybe just tenting the central whorl of leaves? Kinda worried about heat buildup and mold since it gets pretty warm in the GH.....

Here is a couple more pics. The first one the fruit has almost completely bloomed. The second pic was just taken today. The fruit section is only about 2" tall.

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Looks like it will be a small fruit. Nonetheless quite a feat. And your top was a nice size. I guess commercially the tops are probably huge at flowering.

Keep posting especially about eating quality.

Here is an updated picture. I had the plant outside all summer. Just recently brought it back in with the cooler nights here. The fruit has filled out nicely but still hard and not ripening just yet. Its about 4" round now.

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Interesting, I have a lot of dropped apples that are only good as animal feed. I'll try a bucketful on my pineapples and bananas.
Dan

One final post...

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I probably should have waited a few more days to let it ripen more but it tasted good. Cut the top off and starting again :)

Thanks for the detailed explanation and photos.
I have a few adult pineapple plants on which I'd like to try this method. I plan to leave a piece of ripe apple on the soil of the pot, but the plant is too big to be contained in a plastic bag (clear or not). would the process be effective even without plastic bags?
Thanks in advance!

First, that is great to get your pineapple.

As a side note, forcing pineapples to fruit will make them smaller than normal if the plant is not ready.

When I persuaded one of my pineapples (already a large plant) to bloom, all I did was put a slice of apple on a skewer and place the slice gently down in the central whorl. Then I used a piece of plastic wrap to sort of close up the center area. No need to encase the entire plant.

And yes, if a plant is forced to bloom too early, the fruit will be smaller. Mine ended up just under 5 lb, but again, the plant was quite large and just shy about blooming.

first to get a bigger plant use a bigger pot

I live in Hawaii and in the last year expanded my pineapple patch from about 50 to 600. The new plants have been in the ground about 6 months and I was thinking to inducing some of them to produce early, this next season. Since these are from the side shoots and not the tops they would naturally produce at one and a half years so it is just a little early to make the season. I guess they will be about eight pounds given the environment is ideal. I noticed that you are growing a yellow variety. Most every home gardener here grows the white pineapples for personal use. The yellow ones are good for commercial operations particularly because they have a longer growing season and are heartier plants however the white varieties are sweeter and less acidic. If you have any friends that live in the tropics have them send you some starts. You will be amazed.

Aloha David

Sorry what I meant to say was good job on inducing it to fruit and being able to do it indoors. You have a green thumb. Thanks for sharing your experience. I will use the apple for sure.

Aloha David

I tried it in one of my rows and it definitely worked. This entire patch had only been planted for a year. They generally take one and a half to two years to get their first fruit. Out of my 600 new plants 70 of them fruited. In the row that I put some apple pieces in there are ten more than the average for the other rows. As I recall I put it in a dozen plants. This is the normal time of year for fruiting, They would be worth much more if they were out of season. I will wait a few more months and try another batch. I guess they will be worth an extra dollar per fruit. Perhaps $500 extra for this patch. nice potential profit for 8 apples. Although we mostly don't sell our crops. We share and trade with friends. Almost everyone loves pineapples.

I know this post is old and I have to say I am in the exact situation as you were in 9 years ago OP. I have a pineapple plant that's about 3 years old and it hasn't shown any sign of producing fruit so I've been searching the web to see if there's anything that could be done to make it grow fruit. I've seen Youtube videos and people suggesting to do the apple trick but I am so unsure if it really did work or not. I stumbled onto this thread and I'm happy to see that it worked for you properly. I think I might do it as well. But thanks for sharing your experience on this.